Yoshiko Yamaguchi: Actress who survived charges of treason in China and came to symbolise Japan's dreams of conquest
Star of films in Japan, China, and Hollywood who later became a member of parliament in Japan
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Yoshiko Yamaguchi was an actress known as Rikoran who symbolised Japan's wartime dreams of Asian conquest. Known as Shirley Yamaguchi in the West, she was one of Japan's biggest film stars during and after the Second World War. Born to Japanese parents in northern China in 1920 and raised in Japan's wartime puppet state Manchukuo, she was adopted by a Chinese friend of her father and was renamed "Xianglan," or "Fragrant Orchid," when she was 13. As Li Xianglan – "Rikoran" in Japanese – she starred in Chinese-language films made by the Japanese-run Manchurian Cinema Association, many of them propaganda films.
`'Yue Lai Xiang," one of her best known songs, is still popular among Chinese singers. In the film "Song of the White Orchid", she depicted a young Chinese woman who falls in love with a Japanese man after her family is killed by the Japanese. Chinese authorities arrested Yamaguchi after the war and accused her of being a traitor, but a friend produced family records proving her Japanese origin, saving her from execution. She apologised for her duplicity and was allowed to leave China.
After the war she appeared in two Hollywood films and on Broadway during the 1950s. At home she starred in Akira Kurosawa's Scandal, and Seijun Suzuki's Escape at Dawn, among other films. She then largely withdrew from film-making, but the story of her life was made into dramas and musicals that are still performed today. Her 1987 autobiography Half My Life as Rikoran was a bestseller. In 1974 she was elected to parliament's Upper House as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and served until 1992.
Yoshiko Yamaguchi, actress: born Fushun, Manchuria 12 February 1920; twice married; died 7 September 2014.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments